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6 .TH "METAFLAC" "1" "2013/04/30" "" ""
9 metaflac \- program to list, add, remove, or edit metadata in one or more FLAC files.
12 \fBmetaflac\fR [ \fB\fIoptions\fB\fR ] [ \fB\fIoperations\fB\fR ] \fB\fIFLACfile\fB\fR\fI ...\fR
16 Use \fBmetaflac\fR to list, add, remove, or edit
17 metadata in one or more FLAC files. You may perform one major operation,
18 or many shorthand operations at a time.
21 \fB--preserve-modtime\fR
22 Preserve the original modification time in spite of edits.
25 Prefix each output line with the FLAC file name (the default if
26 more than one FLAC file is specified).
29 Do not prefix each output line with the FLAC file name (the default
30 if only one FLAC file is specified).
32 \fB--no-utf8-convert\fR
33 Do not convert tags from UTF-8 to local charset, or vice versa. This is
34 useful for scripts, and setting tags in situations where the locale is wrong.
36 \fB--dont-use-padding\fR
37 By default metaflac tries to use padding where possible to avoid
38 rewriting the entire file if the metadata size changes. Use this
39 option to tell metaflac to not take advantage of padding this way.
40 .SH "SHORTHAND OPERATIONS"
43 Show the MD5 signature from the STREAMINFO block.
45 \fB--show-min-blocksize\fR
46 Show the minimum block size from the STREAMINFO block.
48 \fB--show-max-blocksize\fR
49 Show the maximum block size from the STREAMINFO block.
51 \fB--show-min-framesize\fR
52 Show the minimum frame size from the STREAMINFO block.
54 \fB--show-max-framesize\fR
55 Show the maximum frame size from the STREAMINFO block.
57 \fB--show-sample-rate\fR
58 Show the sample rate from the STREAMINFO block.
61 Show the number of channels from the STREAMINFO block.
64 Show the # of bits per sample from the STREAMINFO block.
66 \fB--show-total-samples\fR
67 Show the total # of samples from the STREAMINFO block.
69 \fB--show-vendor-tag\fR
70 Show the vendor string from the VORBIS_COMMENT block.
73 Show all tags where the field name matches 'name'.
75 \fB--remove-tag=name\fR
76 Remove all tags whose field name is 'name'.
78 \fB--remove-first-tag=name\fR
79 Remove first tag whose field name is 'name'.
81 \fB--remove-all-tags\fR
82 Remove all tags, leaving only the vendor string.
85 Add a tag. The field must comply with the
86 Vorbis comment spec, of the form "NAME=VALUE". If there is
87 currently no tag block, one will be created.
89 \fB--set-tag-from-file=field\fR
90 Like --set-tag, except the VALUE is a filename whose
91 contents will be read verbatim to set the tag value.
92 Unless --no-utf8-convert is specified, the contents will be
93 converted to UTF-8 from the local charset. This can be used
94 to store a cuesheet in a tag (e.g.
95 --set-tag-from-file="CUESHEET=image.cue"). Do not try to
96 store binary data in tag fields! Use APPLICATION blocks for
99 \fB--import-tags-from=file\fR
100 Import tags from a file. Use '-' for stdin. Each
101 line should be of the form NAME=VALUE. Multi-line comments
102 are currently not supported. Specify --remove-all-tags and/or
103 --no-utf8-convert before --import-tags-from if necessary. If
104 FILE is '-' (stdin), only one FLAC file may be specified.
106 \fB--export-tags-to=file\fR
107 Export tags to a file. Use '-' for stdout. Each
108 line will be of the form NAME=VALUE. Specify
109 --no-utf8-convert if necessary.
111 \fB--import-cuesheet-from=file\fR
112 Import a cuesheet from a file. Use '-' for stdin. Only one
113 FLAC file may be specified. A seekpoint will be added for each
114 index point in the cuesheet to the SEEKTABLE unless
115 --no-cued-seekpoints is specified.
117 \fB--export-cuesheet-to=file\fR
118 Export CUESHEET block to a cuesheet file, suitable for use by
119 CD authoring software. Use '-' for stdout. Only one FLAC file
120 may be specified on the command line.
122 \fB--import-picture-from={\fIFILENAME\fB|\fISPECIFICATION\fB}\fR
123 Import a picture and store it in a PICTURE metadata block. More than one --import-picture-from command can be specified. Either a filename for the picture file or a more complete specification form can be used. The SPECIFICATION is a string whose parts are separated by | (pipe) characters. Some parts may be left empty to invoke default values. FILENAME is just shorthand for "||||FILENAME". The format of SPECIFICATION is
125 [TYPE]|[MIME-TYPE]|[DESCRIPTION]|[WIDTHxHEIGHTxDEPTH[/COLORS]]|FILE
127 TYPE is optional; it is a number from one of:
131 1: 32x32 pixels 'file icon' (PNG only)
141 6: Media (e.g. label side of CD)
143 7: Lead artist/lead performer/soloist
153 12: Lyricist/text writer
155 13: Recording Location
159 15: During performance
161 16: Movie/video screen capture
163 17: A bright coloured fish
167 19: Band/artist logotype
169 20: Publisher/Studio logotype
171 The default is 3 (front cover). There may only be one picture each of type 1 and 2 in a file.
173 MIME-TYPE is optional; if left blank, it will be detected from the file. For best compatibility with players, use pictures with MIME type image/jpeg or image/png. The MIME type can also be --> to mean that FILE is actually a URL to an image, though this use is discouraged.
175 DESCRIPTION is optional; the default is an empty string.
177 The next part specfies the resolution and color information. If the MIME-TYPE is image/jpeg, image/png, or image/gif, you can usually leave this empty and they can be detected from the file. Otherwise, you must specify the width in pixels, height in pixels, and color depth in bits-per-pixel. If the image has indexed colors you should also specify the number of colors used. When manually specified, it is not checked against the file for accuracy.
179 FILE is the path to the picture file to be imported, or the URL if MIME type is -->
181 For example, "|image/jpeg|||../cover.jpg" will embed the JPEG file at ../cover.jpg, defaulting to type 3 (front cover) and an empty description. The resolution and color info will be retrieved from the file itself.
183 The specification "4|-->|CD|320x300x24/173|http://blah.blah/backcover.tiff" will embed the given URL, with type 4 (back cover), description "CD", and a manually specified resolution of 320x300, 24 bits-per-pixel, and 173 colors. The file at the URL will not be fetched; the URL itself is stored in the PICTURE metadata block.
185 \fB--export-picture-to=file\fR
186 Export PICTURE block to a file. Use '-' for stdout. Only one FLAC file may be specified on the command line. The first PICTURE block will be exported unless --export-picture-to is preceded by a --block-number=# option to specify the exact metadata block to extract. Note that the block number is the one shown by --list.
188 \fB--add-replay-gain\fR
189 Calculates the title and album gains/peaks of the given FLAC
190 files as if all the files were part of one album, then stores
191 them as FLAC tags. The tags are the same as
192 those used by vorbisgain. Existing ReplayGain tags will be
193 replaced. If only one FLAC file is given, the album and title
194 gains will be the same. Since this operation requires two
195 passes, it is always executed last, after all other operations
196 have been completed and written to disk. All FLAC files
197 specified must have the same resolution, sample rate, and
198 number of channels. The sample rate must be one of 8, 11.025,
199 12, 16, 18.9, 22.05, 24, 28, 32, 37.8, 44.1, 48, 56, 64, 88.2,
200 96, 112, 128, 144, 176.4, or 192kHz.
202 \fB--scan-replay-gain\fR
203 Like --add-replay-gain, but only analyzes the files rather than
204 writing them to the tags.
206 \fB--remove-replay-gain\fR
207 Removes the ReplayGain tags.
209 \fB--add-seekpoint={\fI#\fB|\fIX\fB|\fI#x\fB|\fI#s\fB}\fR
210 Add seek points to a SEEKTABLE block. Using #, a seek point at
211 that sample number is added. Using X, a placeholder point is
212 added at the end of a the table. Using #x, # evenly spaced seek
213 points will be added, the first being at sample 0. Using #s, a
214 seekpoint will be added every # seconds (# does not have to be a
215 whole number; it can be, for example, 9.5, meaning a seekpoint
216 every 9.5 seconds). If no SEEKTABLE block exists, one will be
217 created. If one already exists, points will be added to the
218 existing table, and any duplicates will be turned into placeholder
219 points. You may use many --add-seekpoint options; the resulting
220 SEEKTABLE will be the unique-ified union of all such values.
221 Example: --add-seekpoint=100x --add-seekpoint=3.5s will add 100
222 evenly spaced seekpoints and a seekpoint every 3.5 seconds.
224 \fB--add-padding=length\fR
225 Add a padding block of the given length (in bytes). The overall
226 length of the new block will be 4 + length; the extra 4 bytes is
227 for the metadata block header.
228 .SH "MAJOR OPERATIONS"
231 List the contents of one or more metadata blocks to stdout. By
232 default, all metadata blocks are listed in text format. Use the
233 following options to change this behavior:
236 \fB--block-number=#[,#[...]]\fR
237 An optional comma-separated list of block numbers to display.
238 The first block, the STREAMINFO block, is block 0.
240 \fB--block-type=type[,type[...]]\fR
242 \fB--except-block-type=type[,type[...]]\fR
243 An optional comma-separated list of block types to be included
244 or ignored with this option. Use only one of --block-type or
245 --except-block-type. The valid block types are: STREAMINFO,
246 PADDING, APPLICATION, SEEKTABLE, VORBIS_COMMENT, PICTURE. You
247 may narrow down the types of APPLICATION blocks displayed as
250 APPLICATION:abcd The APPLICATION block(s) whose textual repre-
251 sentation of the 4-byte ID is "abcd"
252 APPLICATION:0xXXXXXXXX The APPLICATION block(s) whose hexadecimal big-
253 endian representation of the 4-byte ID is
254 "0xXXXXXXXX". For the example "abcd" above the
255 hexadecimal equivalalent is 0x61626364
259 if both --block-number and --[except-]block-type are
260 specified, the result is the logical AND of both
264 \fB--application-data-format=hexdump|text\fR
265 If the application block you are displaying contains binary
266 data but your --data-format=text, you can display a hex dump
267 of the application data contents instead using
268 --application-data-format=hexdump.
272 Remove one or more metadata blocks from the metadata. Unless
273 --dont-use-padding is specified, the blocks will be replaced with
274 padding. You may not remove the STREAMINFO block.
277 \fB--block-number=#[,#[...]]\fR
279 \fB--block-type=type[,type[...]]\fR
281 \fB--except-block-type=type[,type[...]]\fR
282 See --list above for usage.
286 if both --block-number and --[except-]block-type are
287 specified, the result is the logical AND of both arguments.
292 Remove all metadata blocks (except the STREAMINFO block) from the
293 metadata. Unless --dont-use-padding is specified, the blocks will
294 be replaced with padding.
296 \fB--merge-padding\fR
297 Merge adjacent PADDING blocks into single blocks.
300 Move all PADDING blocks to the end of the metadata and merge them